Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
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Just as she was planning her escape, the man spoke again. She slowed, and looked up. ”No need to apologize. I didn't mean to salt the wound.” She said softly. The words of this language still felt strange - the tone of her native language was low and lilting in a way that didn’t work with the sounds of this language. She could tell from his speech that she must be speaking this language with an accent. It still astounded her that sudden knowledge of a new language was even possible. ”And I’m sorry.” She hated giving apologies, but she knew she owed one. She would not go so far as to explain exactly why she was sorry, that would hurt her ego too much, and she figured it was clear enough.
Her head tilted to the side in curiosity. ”Long night?” She asked, the spark of interest lit. Colder was a concern and she figured she ought to be worried, but she was the walking definition of ‘curiosity killed the cat’. ”What’s that?”
But what does it take to break you, to awake you?
To make you bow and spit it out?
Korbin nodded quietly, accepting the return apology even though he had expected none. No one meant to add to his burdens, but they all did anyway, inadvetently. The more they tried to help, the worse he felt.
It was a relief to move on, talk about something else. LongNight was a safe subject... as safe As anything could ever be when everything reminded him of his loss.
"A week of darkness. The sun does not rise, the stars go out, and the gods don't answer any prayers. Going outside or letting the fires die out means death." It was what it usually amounted to in Halo, but Korbin had no illusions that anything would remain as it had been. Already their boring Deepfrost had turned to chaos... he would believe it was over when the sun returned.
"It's a worldwide thing. In other regions, monsters come out. Usually not here though." He glanced at her, to see if the seriousness of his message was coming across properly.
Doesn't matter if I hate you or embrace you
Nothing makes you turn around
As he talked, her brow furrowed slightly. So much information about her new world was hidden within his words. ”Your gods answer prayers?” She asked, surprised. Her clan didn’t worship so much as pay honors to nature, but beyond that religion was scarce in her tundra home. In the cities and villages small religions would pop up, but she’d never heard of their gods answering them.
She let her expression grow somber as she saw the weight of the event evident in his eyes. She gave a quiet nod. ”I will look for somewhere to stay, thank you.” She said, feeling a twinge of anxiety emerge when the facade of excitement subsided somewhat. If this amount of cold was normal for the Halo, when it was as frigid as the harshest blizzards back home, she had reason to fear the cold of LongNight. ”I’ve never heard of the stars going out. Do you know what causes it?” While proper concern had begun to set in, she could hardly refrain from asking at least one or two of the dozens of questions popping into her head.
But what does it take to break you, to awake you?
To make you bow and spit it out?
His grimace could have been the attempt at a smile, a half chuff, sone remnant of amusement. "When they feel like it," he replied, and shrugged. "Sometimes they try to help. Other times you get cursed. Not always easy to tell the difference." There was a seashell sitting in one of his pockets, still dull and colorless. A quest for redemption, för control, for emotional balance and stability... He couldn't quite recall why it had seemed so important now.
Korbin shrugged off the gratitude, just nodded. "No idea. The stars belong to Safrin... maybe she and the other gods go away that night. Maybe she takes them with her. You could ask, maybe she will answer."
A waitor passed, and Korbin waved them down. Emptying the bottle into his glass, his hands had grown steadier, and the burn of alcohol brought relaxation. Not completely, but... talking was made easier. His voice was rough, hoarse from lack of use. It had been so long since he was fit to sing. Since he even felt the urge.
The staff returned with a new bottle and a spare glass, and asked a polite inquirey if the woman would like more to eat. Korbin poured a shot into the new glass and pushed it towards the woman, the amber liquid and food a renewed apology for his lack of hospitality.
"Resources are a bit scarce... we had some trouble earlier in the season," he commented. "This place never thaws, so... hope you don't mind meat."
Doesn't matter if I hate you or embrace you
Nothing makes you turn around
She refrained from smiling as it seemed out of place on the subject of this “LongNight”, but her eyes betrayed some amusement. ”Fickle gods. I wonder if that’s truly better than having none.” She wondered aloud. The gods may not help their people in her homeland, but they didn’t curse them either.
Tala’s eyebrow quirked up again and her curiosity surged once again. ”I could ask? How does one ask a god something?” She asked, leaning forward ever so slightly in interest.
She paused for a second at the question, and then gave a slight shake of her head. ”No, thank you.” She wasn’t quite ready to push her welcome in this place, and the stew was filling enough to last her. She had plenty of goods from home to trade when she got hungry again. Her eyes followed the glass of liquid as it slid towards her, and she caught it gently with her hand ”I appreciate it.” She said, feeling like she ought to be offering something in return. She decided that once it was time to part ways she’d offer to leave something, that way she didn’t have to do the traditional back and forth of pleasantries that came with offering payment that wasn’t requested.
”Where I come from never thawed either, at least not much of it. I am - was, a reindeer herder. If I minded meat, I would have starved years ago.” She said with a very subtle wry smile.
But what does it take to break you, to awake you?
To make you bow and spit it out?
"Not like we have a choice. Better or worse have nothing to do with it, it's just how things are." Fatalism was something he used rail and rage against, but lately it was all Korbin could muster. "There are shrines. Wouldn't recommend it unless your business is urgent though. They usually want something in return."
Korbin didn't insist when she declined a second helping. Too many were forcin their help on him lately, he was not going to be like those who couldn't respect a 'no'. Reclining with his own glass, he stared down into the liquid and swirled it around the rim.
"Hmm, I see. Hope you don't expect to return there. There are no portals that lead away from Caido." Was it too abrupt a way to say she was stuck here? But the woman seemed less shocked and overwhelmed than others he knew. Almost as if this had been the desired outcome.
Doesn't matter if I hate you or embrace you
Nothing makes you turn around
”I suppose. Do they interfere when they haven’t been called upon, too?” She disliked it enough when people got in her way - a god being an obstacle for the sake of its whims was something that might aggravate her quite a bit. And while she wasn’t personally familiar with what gods were like, she knew from stories that they despised people being aggravated with them.
Tala exhaled in a way that could almost be taken for a puff of silent laughter, and shook her head. ”No, I meant to be here. There were many tales in my home about the portals - all mysterious of course, as no one ever came back, but a few claimed to have seen the other side in magical visions. Now that I’m here, I suppose eventually I will see if they were making it up or truly seeing Caido.” She was entertained by the thought.
”My entire home world is just snow, ice, and buried grass. One city, some villages… Very little to explore. From what I hear, things vary on Caido, right?” She considered for the first time that maybe it was foolish to believe the stories at all. Perhaps lands without snow and ice didn’t truly exist… After all, Halo was not much different from her home world. ”It’s not just snow and ice all across?” A bit of nervousness edged into her voice as she hurriedly added this question. She’d wanted something different than what she’d always lived with, but she hadn’t yet let herself worry that nothing different existed.
06-12-2020, 11:12 AM (This post was last modified: 06-12-2020, 11:13 AM by Korbin.)
KORBIN
But what does it take to break you, to awake you?
To make you bow and spit it out?
The raven haired boy frowned softly into his drink. "Not... usually," he replied. "But once you've caught their attention, it can be difficult to shake. And sometimes... well, a recent example would be the former Warden. He made a deal with Eirachi, then broke his part of it. And in retaliation, she unleashed her cultists upon all of us who live here. Destroyed the Palace, broke down the gates... a lot of people were killed before my sister and her friends fought them off." A sweeping glance was cast about the large mess hall, where people sat gathered by tables, in chairs, around the bar. Men, women, children... All displaced by one man's folly. By one god's vengeance. "It's not always what you do, that make them interfere."
It seemed strange to him, that anyone would willingly leave home and kin behind. Korbin always wanted to be exactly where he was, but had to see everything he loved taken away, one family member after the other. Not even his homeland was left unchanged.
"Halo is. The sun never grow warm enough to melt the ice here," he said, with some tender ache in his eyes. A reluctant fondness in the tone, not quite able or willing to admit that he still cared about anything. "But there are other regions. Once the storms stop after LongNight has passed and the seasons change, you'll be able to reach the portal... it's only way out of here."
Doesn't matter if I hate you or embrace you
Nothing makes you turn around
Her face fell as he spoke, and she stared down at her shot glass as she processed it. The idea of incurring a god’s wrath frightened her, and it also frightened her that the gods of this world didn’t sound like they minded taking out bystanders. It was clear enough that her mental image of prideful but kindly gods did not match reality. ”I’m sorry that happened.” This time, she sounded sincere. Something about the food and the thought of the god’s wrath managed to invoke the sympathy that usually eluded her. It wasn’t that she was without a heart, but she was almost never around people outside of her own family, and then it was more empathy than sympathy. She hardly ever had to deal with people she didn’t know perfectly well. Now, she would not see family again - it was all strangers from here on out.
For a moment she thought he was about to confirm her fears, that all existed was snow and ice. An audible sigh of relief escaped her when he said there were other regions. ”Oh, good… I’ve never seen a snowless land. I just wanted more adventure than I was ever going to get back home… A want that could very well get me killed, but at least I’ll go out happy, eh?” She gave a wistful little smile. The anxiety about the possibility was real, but excitement and anxiety felt so similar anyways.
But what does it take to break you, to awake you?
To make you bow and spit it out?
Broad shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, that brushed off her commisseration as unnecessary. It happened, it was what it was, and the people would recover, rebuild and move on. Even if Korbin wasn't thrilled about the idea of getting back on his own feet, he knew his people well enough to predict their responses. And much as he hated it, he was one of them. Wasn't he already sitting up, talking to a stranger, breathing and existing even though his life should have ended when his sister's did?
He didn't want to go on in a world without her, and yet... willing or not, his heart refused to stop beating.
"Adventures? That definitely will see you dead, yes," he responded with blunt honesty. "Don't know what your world was like, but Caido is actively trying to murder everyone who lives here. Simply staying alive is challenge enough for most people. But if you insist... I'd suggest starting with a visit to the Hollow Ground. They have a lot of outlanders there, and a guild full of people who gather knowledge. Loreseekers. Hearing what they have to say might prevent immediate death by picking the wrong flowers."
It was a drab place in his mind, lukewarm and gray, but it was greener than Halo and less brutal than Torchline. Korbin had no interest in leaving Halo, even if Chulane had suggested it, but he did have opinions on what he had seen so far.
Doesn't matter if I hate you or embrace you
Nothing makes you turn around
Tala let a tiny shrug and an expression that seemed to say “so be it” answer the man. It was not in her culture to fear death. Sure, that didn’t entirely stop her from being afraid to die, but she figured she was considerably less worried about it than people who weren’t taught from an early age that it was normal as could be. ”It’s extremely rare to make it to adulthood where I’m from, so it’s not something we learn to fear. I’m mostly okay with dying.” She said simply, figuring that was all that needed to be said. In her clan, most people died in childhood. Some lived to adulthood, and even fewer made it to be elders. While dozens of babies might be born every year, her clan always fluctuated somewhere between 40 to 80 people.
”Loreseekers.” She repeated with an interested nod. That sounded up her alley, perhaps that was just what she needed. ”My plan was to find a library and do as much research as I possibly could before I went traipsing about in the wilds. I don’t suppose there’s one of those around here?” She asked.
But what does it take to break you, to awake you?
To make you bow and spit it out?
She wouldn't hear Korbin argue living life just for the sake of it. He was still raging against life in every possible way, and in no mind to force it on others. The woman had been given fair warning, and anything she did from here on out was her own choice.
"It's the same here, pretty much. Magic and gifts from gods along with hard work keep us alive, but I can't recall a time since the land froze that the population of the Citadel has exceeded a thousand. Not because there aren't kids born, but... Too many die." And maybe that was for the best, or they could never keep everyone fed and healthy.
As she asked about a library, Korbin shook his head. "The one we had was in the Palace, all gone now. The Loreseekers live in a giant one though. Guess you have more reason to go there now."
Korbin had never been inside himself, but had seen the building from outside. It was impressive.
Doesn't matter if I hate you or embrace you
Nothing makes you turn around
What he said sounded familiar enough, she didn’t really expect that anywhere in the world would be different. Half her clan froze to death before they reached adulthood, if they didn’t get attacked by a predator or accidentally trampled by the reindeer. ”Much the same back home. My logic is, if we’re all just a bad day away from dying anyways, I ought to try to enjoy it as much as I can. I made a pretty miserable reindeer herder, always looking for something more exciting, I was going to get more than myself hurt if I stayed.” Her smile turned sardonic. ”And that’s the one thing I don’t want to do, screw up anyone’s chance at living but my own.” She had had so few conversations with strangers, that she didn’t really know or care where the line of what conversation was normal and what was strange lay.
Tala frowned, she had feared as much when she saw whatever the rubble at the center of the village, which she now knew to be the palace, was. ”Ah, that’s a shame. Though I suppose there were worse things to lose.” She made a mental note about the loreseekers. ”Do you know anything else about them? The loreseekers, I mean.”
But what does it take to break you, to awake you?
To make you bow and spit it out?
An actual smile cut a slash through his face. It was tight lipped and strained, painful looking as the facial muscles had forgotten how to move, but it was there. "You sound just like Weaver," he murmured, softening with impossible tenderness. Heartwrenching, because it was only a shadow of what he actually felt, a pale reflection of love unspent. Her words, her outlook on life... it was like hearing the Scythe speak from beyond and Korbin didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He had to look away, gaze trailing off aimlessly, the glass returning to his lips. Only the burn down his throat kept him from weeping on the spot, and it took many long breaths before he had his voice under control again.
Trying to recall what he knew of the guild helped keep his thoughts away from his sister. "The guild master's name is Jigano Silversmith. He is a hybrid... both mage and shapeshifter, or so I've heard. They're based in the Hollowed Ground... I think... no, sorry. That's really all I know."
Raking rough fingers through the unruly hair, Korbin shook his head. All he knew had been gleaned from notes on an ads board and a brief conversation with a fellow raven. Not exactly reliable sources.
"What's your name?" he asked, almost reluctant. It would have been better not to, but he was too tempted to just let this woman become a pale imitation of who he had lost. It wouldn't be fair, to her or Weaver... or to himself.
Doesn't matter if I hate you or embrace you
Nothing makes you turn around
